I hear Art is the biggest asset for any video game. The fact that they're redoing character models on top of everything else (garrisons + the usual zones, armor, raid tiers) probably makes this expansion an especially large undertaking, though I would assume the same rang true for Cataclysm.

Still, if I had to guess at the source of delays, I would be looking sorely at the class and encounter designers. Those guys are probably the ones who say "oops" the most.

but didn't blizzard just say it is likely all the models won't be ready for launch meaning that if they release with some of the models not yet replaced like they are pretty much saying they will, that this thread is just a waste of time and space since it shows the model changes have no real influence on the release date.

By the way, I find it a little absurd that they even felt that it was acceptable to say that potentially "not all the models will be ready by release." Because really, what you're saying, is that a lucky group of players will receive what they've been asking for, while an unlucky group of players will bitterly look on and continue to wait. And where do they draw the line in the sand? Do they update the most-played race/gender combinations first? Meaning that, perhaps, draenei females get their update for release but the males have to wait? Or do they update all the vanilla races, but leave blood elves and draenei for later? Which, of course, would mean that a race playing a major role in the expansion would be running around with their old models? But neither of these scenarios seems plausible, since we've already seen updates for both dwarf models - not the most popular race in the game - as well as orc females, and we know draenei female will be coming soon, but no word on blood elves? The order so far seems completely arbitrary.

If I were in quality control at Blizz, I would be cringing at the mere thought of saying to players "you'll get them, just not all at the same time... we might have to, uh, release the expansion and then get back to you with the first patch."

It needs stated again since people don't intend to read, or simply ignore it.
The game may be released without some of the models, therefore the game is not reliant on them being finished.
Therefore they are not delaying anything.

The game due to maybe not having them all will be able to support the use of old or new models at least of different races, and I see no reason why it can't support either as a choice.
As I am on low-end hardware then I would welcome that opportunity to use the original models, unless the performance difference proves extremely minor.

As for WoW being an MMORPG ?
Thats funny, since the only real role defining choice you make is when you pick your class.
Everything else can be changed, your spec, your race, even your faction.
And given the lack of real progression from player decisions, it being more gear driven instead then I could argue it has never really been an RPG.

Originally Posted by DeadmanWalking

I don't understand why we don't have flying so they tell us we will have convenient flight points. Immersion and danger? Here take some coins and fly me there while I read facebook or go take a poop.

Originally Posted by Reinaerd

T'is good to see there are still people valiantly putting the "Ass" in assumption.

Maybe some of you should really get a life outside of your basement so that you're not that dependent on regular content.

You are LITERALLY playing the same game as us, and you are LITERALLY posting on a forum for World of Warcraft. I'd like you to take this comment and take it back to Facebook where you can laugh with your bros about all the nerds that play video games

They said Fall recently, but from the hints and comments about WoD being further along than Mists, we were looking at a spring/summer release. Didn't Boub himself say that Beta would be out weeks ago? Something has undoubtedly happened to delay release. The reason we're getting Draenei now is probably because they know they've got enough time for all the races no matter what order they do them in.

Exactly --there was something that was developed that Blizz didn't end up liking so they started again , the exact same thing happened with MoP release , tho not to the same extent, Blizz didn't like the original Jade Forest so thye closed that part down on Beta and redid it , that extended the beta by 4 -6 weeks but not many people seem to remember that . It did however give them more time to test the raids and to fix some of the minor bugs that may have found their way into live .

What delay are you talking about? They have a schedule that they do follow, it is not like they are planning to rush it. They have big hope for this exp and want to make it amazing (no bug, smooth and many more things.)

Honestly I haven't seen people really asking for this, mainly because well, you'd never see the models. Also, I don't think people would really want these if it meant a huge delay on the expansion, which is kind of happening now.

If you haven't seen people asking you didn't visit the suggestion forum on the official forums much before.
I for one wouldn't mind delaying the expac for a year if means getting a better expac , even delaying it for a few months for just the models I am totally ok with.
There are other games/things to play/do while I cancel my subscription and wait for the expac to be released.

If I can wait a year for the next season of some series (which only contains a few hours of new content) or multiple years for sequels to movies, I am sure a delay in an expac which will eventually deliver many hours of fun will be warranted if it drastically increases the fun for those many hours. And YES, updated character models constitute a large part of the fun in teh next expac for me...it is one of the main reasons I will be resubbing to WoW when it eventually lands

Signature infractions suck especially when they are just about the size of TEXT! WTB token limit!

I sincerely doubt that new models are THE reason for a fall release date. Especially considering that they recently posted they might not even all be done in time. (Which would be a pretty embarrassing failure on their part)

It's a little disappointing that the models are taking so long but it is not at all the "surprise" reason for the delay.

As far as I have heard, if it looks like there will not be a public/closed beta by mid-July, there *will* be some additional MoP content instead, regardless of all the "promises" to the contrary.

Of course if summer comes and people are still enjoying Diablo 4, uh, Loot 2.0, whatever, and something positive is happening with Heroes, then an additional 3-6 month delay with a Winter 2015 release is no big deal. At this rate though the game will not be ready in 2014 even without the models.